Instructions for Authors
GENERAL INFORMATION
International Journal of Ophthalmology— IJO , published continuously since 2008, a global ophthalmological scientific publication and a peer-reviewed, open access periodical published in print and online monthly (ISSN: 2222-3959 print, ISSN: 2227-4898 online). IJO is sponsored by the Chinese Medical Association Xi'an Branch, China and obtains guidance, and support from World Health Organization (WHO) and International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO).
It is indexed in SCI Expanded, PubMed, PubMed Central, Chemical Abstract, Scopus, EMBASE etc. The latest JCR IF is 1.33, CiteScore is 2.1.
Aim & Scope
IJO is a comprehensive journal on ophthalmology accepting contributions in English from all over the world. These contributions mainly include original and review articles, both basic and clinical scientific manuscript. With more than 1000 manuscripts received annually, IJO accepts about 24% submitted manuscripts. IJO applies itself to establish a leading ophthalmology journal in the world, to provide a platform for ophthalmologists and impulse the advanced development of ophthalmology.
Manuscript Types: Original Articles (Basic Research and Clinical Research), Review, Meta-Analysis, Commentary, Investigation, Perspective, Opinion, Brief Report, and Letter to the Editor, etc.
Note: Submissions must be an original contribution not previously published (except as an abstract), must not currently be under consideration for publication elsewhere in the similar form, in any language, including both paper and electronic formats.
EDITORIAL POLICIES
Peer Review
All manuscripts are subjected to double blind peer-review and editorial approval before accepting for publication. All contributions will be sent to at least three or more independent reviewers, selected by the editors. Authors are welcome to suggest suitable independent reviewers and may also request that the journal excludes one or two individuals or laboratories, but the editor's decision on the choice of referees is final.Editors, authors and reviewers are required to keep confidential all details of the editorial and peer review process on submitted manuscripts, the peer review process is confidential and conducted anonymously; Outcomes of the review process include acceptance, acceptance with revisions but without re-review, revise and resubmit, or rejection. Results of the review process are normally available in about 2~4 months of submission.
Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent: For all manuscripts reporting data from studies involving human participants or animals, a formal review and approval, or formal review and waiver by an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee is required, and should be described in the Subjects and Methods section. For investigators who do not have a formal ethics review committee (institutional or regional), the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki must be followed. For investigations done in humans, the Methods section must state the manner in which informed consent was obtained from the subjects (i.e. oral, or written), and whether participants received a stipend. If experimental animals were used in the research, IJO requires that authors confirm adherence to the ARVO Statement for the Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research in the Methods section of their manuscript.
Conflicts of Interest: A conflict of interest may exist when an author (or the author's institution or employer) has financial, or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence (or bias) the author's decisions, work, or manuscript. All authors are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript by following the Recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html
Authors without conflicts of interest, including relevant financial interests, activities, relationships, and affiliations, should indicate that no conflicts of interest exist in the Acknowledgments section of their manuscript.
e.g. Conflicts of Interest: Wang H, None; Barteselli G, None; Freeman WR, None; Lee SN, None; Chhablani J, None; El-Emam S, None; Cheng L, None.
Foundations: All financial support for the research and the work should be clearly and completely identified in an Acknowledgment section of the manuscript.
Clinical Trial Registry: When publishing clinical studies, IJO aims to comply with the Recommendations of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) on trials registration (http://www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform/the-ictrp-search-portal). Therefore, authors are requested to register the clinical trial presented in the manuscript in a public trials registry, and include the trial registration number in the Methods Section.
Plagiarism
IJO uses Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) to screen submitted contents, and we will do some investigation if the software raises any concerns. If plagiarism is detected after manuscript is submitted, the manuscript will be rejected; If plagiarism is detected after publication, we may issue a correction or retraction notice for the related paper. We reserve the right to inform authors' institutions about plagiarism detected either before or after publication. Articles containing plagiarism will be removed from publication and will be reported to the proper authorities.
MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION REQUIREMENTS
Manuscripts are received with the explicit understanding that they are not under simultaneous consideration by any other publication, except in abstract form. Submission of an article for publication implies the transfer of the copyright from the author to the publisher upon acceptance.
Language Polishing: If an author's manuscript requires a language polishing service (excluding translation & rewrite), they can use the services from the Charlesworth group http://www.charlesworthauthorservices.com/?rcode=IJO001
Cover Letter: Manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter. The authors must clearly explain the contribution of the work in terms of its theoretical and/or practical value, and association with previously published papers. The cover letter should also include a detailed contact address, and the email addresses for the first author, and the corresponding author.
The main manuscript document should be organized as follows:
Title Page: It is the first page of your manuscript, in which you must indicate the full manuscript title (≤12 notional words), the running title (≤6 notional words), the name(s) of the author(s), affiliation(s), institution(s) and/or department(s) where the work was accomplished, author contributions. In addition, the corresponding author’s name, full address with postal code, and email address must be included. Titles should be concise and informative (removing all unnecessary words), emphasize what is new, and avoid abbreviations. The name(s) of the author(s)' name(s) must be listed in the following manner: initial and/or first name, middle name or initial(s), and full family name.
Abstract: An informative, structured abstract of no more than 400 words should accompany each manuscript. Abstracts for original contributions should be structured into the following sections:
AIM: Only the purpose should be included.
METHODS: The materials, techniques, instruments, equipments and study designs, outcome measurements, and the experimental procedures as well as statistical methods should be included.
RESULTS: The observed and experimental results, including data, effects, outcomes, etc. should be included. The results should be concise and statistical significance should be presented as appropriate.
CONCLUSION: Conclusion should be justified by the study findings and the value of the findings should be specific in relation to its application.
Review articles require non-structured abstract.
KEYWORDS: Please list 3 to 8 key words, selected mainly from Index Medicus, which reflect the content of the study.
Text: For original articles on either clinical science or laboratory science, the main text should be structured into the following sections: INTRODUCTION, SUBJECTS AND METHODS, RESULTS and DISCUSSION, and should include appropriate Figures and Tables. Data should be presented in the body text or in Figures and Tables, but not in both.
All submissions must be typed in Times New Roman with 10.5pt, 1.5 spaced front, and 2cm margins all around. In a brief introduction, provide the research rationale, and objectives without extensively reviewing the literature. In the Methods section, describe the experimental design, subjects used, and procedures followed; provide sufficient details to enable others to duplicate the research. Use standard chemical or pharmaceutical terms. Make sure the metric unit and punctuation are used correctly. Please state clearly the statistics version and statistical method, and use the statistical symbols correctly. In parentheses, identify specific sources by the name of company, city, or state of country. Present the Results with a minimum of discussion. Cite all tables, and figures in numerical order. Limit the Discussion to statistically significant data, and their limitations. Do not reiterate results.
Acknowledgements: The Acknowledgements section is the general term that includes the list of contributions, disclosures, credits, and other information included at the end of the text of a manuscript but before the references. The Acknowledgements section includes authors' contributions; information on author access to data; disclosure of potential conflicts of interest, including financial interests, activities, relationships, and affiliations; sources of funding and support; an explanation of the role of sponsor(s); information on independent statistical analysis (if required); names, degrees, and affiliations of participants in a large study or other group; any important disclaimers; information on previous presentation of the information reported in the manuscript; listing of supplemental material; and the contributions, names, degrees, affiliations, and indication if compensation has been received for all persons who have made substantial contributions to the work but who are not authors.
All other persons who have made substantial contributions to the work reported in this manuscript (e.g. data collection, analysis, and writing or editing assistance), but who do not fulfill the authorship criteria should be named with their specific contributions in an Acknowledgements in the manuscript.
Authors must obtain written permission to include the names of all individuals included in the Acknowledgements section, and the corresponding author must confirm that such permission.
References: Authors should cite the literatures published in recent 5 years as many as possible, while over past 10 years as few as possible. The Price Index (number of literatures published in recent 5 years/total number of references×100) should be over 30%. List references numerically by order of citation in the text, not alphabetically. All references must be cited in the text or tables, shown as superscript numbers. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. References should follow the standards summarized in the recommendations of ICMJE http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html.
Journals
Authors' surnames and initials. Article title. Abbreviated name of journal Year;vol(issue No.):inclusive pages.
e.g. 1 Bringmann A, Jochmann C, Unterlauft JD, Wiedemann R, Rehak M, Wiedemann P. Different modes of foveal regeneration after closure of full-thickness macular holes by (re)vitrectomy and autologous platelet concentrate. Int J Ophthalmol 2020;13(1):36-48.
2 Kong CL, Thompson RR, Porco TC, Kim E, Acharya NR. Incidence Rate of Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus: A Retrospective Cohort Study from 1994 through 2018. Ophthalmology 2020;127(3):324-330.
Books
1 An entire book: Authors' surnames and initials. Book Title. Edition number (if it is the second edition or above). State (or Country) of publisher: Publisher's name; copyright year.
e.g. Naumann GOH, Holbach L, Kruse FE. Applied Pathology for Ophthalmic Microsurgeons. Germany:Springer; 2008.
2 Chapter in a book: Authors' surnames and initials. Chapter Title. Surname and initials of book authors or editors (or translator, if any). Book Title. Edition number (if it is the second edition or above). State (or Country) of publisher: Publisher's name; copyright year. Page number.
e.g. Bye L, Modi N, Stanford M. Anatomy. Basic Sciences for Ophthalmology. UK: Oxford University Press; 2013:1-10.
Figure Legends and Figures: Figures should be embedded in the main text where the figures are applicable and also should be uploaded as separate files to the online submission system. Figures should be numbered as 1, 2, 3 and so on, and mentioned clearly in the main text. For photomicrographs, include the type of specimen, original magnification or a scale bar, and stain. For gross pathology specimens, label any rulers with unit of measure. Digitally enhanced images (CT/MRI, blots, photographs, photomicrographs, ultrasound images, x-ray films, etc.) must be clearly identified in the figure legends as digitally processed images.
Individual figure files - must be TIFF (.tif), or JPG (.jpg) files.
——Minimum resolution is 300 dpi for photographs and 1200 dpi for line art
——Color files are RGB or CMYK
——Multiple panels of figures are combined in a single figure file, i.e. there is only one Figure 1 file, not Figure 1A file, Figure 1B file etc.
——Figures are the approximate size they will appear in the final published PDF, i.e. they are not thumbnails, which will lose resolution when enlarged
Tables: Tables should be in Word format and placed in the main text where the table is first cited, which should not use picture tools to create tables or upload tables in image format or in Excel files. Tables must be cited in the main text in numerical order. A table need to be simplified when it cannot fit onto one page. Tables should be self-explanatory and the data they contain must not be duplicated in the text or figures. Each table should have a brief title and all abbreviations within the table should be included in a footnote to the table. Each piece of data needs to be contained in its own cell and the boxhead should not be empty.
MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
All manuscripts must be submitted via our online manuscript submission and review system (https://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/ijo).
Manuscript Components: Include in the manuscript file a title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, and figure legends. Beginning with the title page, start each of these sections on a new page, and number them consecutively.
Recommended File Sizes: We recommend individual file sizes of no more than 500KB, and not exceeding 1MB, with the total size for all files not exceeding 10MB (not including any video files).
Manuscript File Formats: For submission and review, the acceptable manuscript file format is Microsoft Word. Do not submit your manuscript in PDF format.
COPYRIGHT
Once the manuscript is adopted by IJO, a Copyright Transfer Agreement signed by all the authors should be submitted immediately.
Publication Policy
Article processing charges
International Journal of Ophthalmology is an open access journal under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY NC ND) license. This allows the scientific community and the general public to gain unlimited, free and immediate access to scholarly articles.
To cover the cost for providing our high-quality publishing service and free access to readers, authors should pay a one-time article processing charge (APC) for accepted manuscripts after peer-review. There are no charges for submission and rejected articles.
Authors from China: more than CNY1000 per page, CNY2000 for color figure per page extra;
Authors outside China: USD150 per page, USD200 for color figure per page extra
Open Access statement
All of the articles are free to access immediately on IJO Press website and PMC from the date of publication.
Content License
IJO Press applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY NC ND) license to the works we publish including IJO and IES. This license was developed to facilitate open access.
Contact us
International Journal of Ophthalmology Press (IJO Press)
Room 11707-08, Building 2, Unit 1, Wanda Plaza, No.8 Yanta North Road, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi Province, P.R.China
Tel: (+8629)82210956 Fax: (+8629)82245172
Email: ijopress@163.com ijo2000@126.com
Website: http://ies.ijo.cn (Chinese) www.ijo.cn (English)
